A Day to Remember

The sound of rain tapping on the windows begins to fill the room, Raymonde, and Katrina still in each other's arms, he didn't know how much time had passed nor did he care, all he cared about at this moment was holding Katrina close after being reunited after ten years.

A flash of lightning fills the room with light, thunder sounds seconds later, it rolls across the sky from east to west, "It's so good to see you again." Raymonde admits as a tear rolls down his battle-worn face, he tightens his grip.

"You too Raymonde, you too," Katrina replies as she pulls away from his grasp, her long earthy hair tied back into a braid flows ever so slightly in the breeze, her piercing blue eyes, staring into them make you feel lost in an endless sea, she looks up at him and tears begin to flow down her face, her skin is soft and rugged at the same time, enough to be feminine but enough ruggedness to hold her own, "when I heard that your unit was wiped out, I had to come and see if you were alright. And when you weren't amongst the small number of people that had survived, I—I assumed the worst had happened to you."

"Well, I am here in front of you, am I not?" he replies while walking her over to a table, they sit down.

"Yes…" Katrina begins.

"But?" Raymonde cuts in.

"…but I thought you had died, were buried in an unmarked grave somewhere and—and I didn't want that to be true. Who am I kidding you are too stubborn to die?" She finishes, her voice sounding hoarse, causing her to struggle with her words.

"Hey, I am not dead yet." He answers while rubbing her arms, he flags down the bartender and asks for some water and to keep them coming, he hands a cup of water to Katrina, she downs it on one gulp.

"Exactly, yet." She says with annoyance, water trickles from her mouth and Raymonde instinctively wipes it clear, Katrina looks at him with shock.

"I'm sorry," he states, "was that too far?" his face brightens, he looks towards the ground to avoid eye contact, "Look," he says, attempting to break the awkwardness he caused, "I have rented a room here since I don't know how long we will be staying here, I rented it for three months, and I was thinking since we have the room if you wanted to stay with me for the night?"

"We?" Katrina asks, "Who else are you here with? Don't tell me it is that Tiefling child I saw you with." She says it softly, he could barely hear her.

"What is everyone's problem with Tieflings? What have they done to deserve such treatment? I'll have you know, the General in the unit I had commanded was a Tiefling and she was the best General this place has ever seen, and I found the girl in a Goblin death-camp, she was the only survivor. What type of person would leave a child in a place like that?" the veins in his temple are now bulging, they look near ready to burst.

"Okay," Katrina begins, "you are right, what type of person would leave a child in a place like that, and I am sorry, I don't know what came over me. Tieflings haven't done anything wrong, so treating them badly wouldn't help anyone." She looks towards Raymonde and nods, "and yes, I would like to stay the night with you."

----

Raymonde wakes to the sound of laughter, from the tavern he supposes, he rises from the chair he had slept in to see the two beds still supporting their bearers, Lildöris curled up into a ball on her bed, and Katrina lying motionless where she had succumbed to exhaustion the night before. He stands from the chair and heads for the door.

As he reaches for the door handle, he hears light tapping from behind him, he turns to see Lildöris walking up to him, "I thought you were sleeping," he says softly to her, "do you want to come with me?"

She nods.

"Alright let's get going." He grabs onto Lildöris' hand and opens the door; they leave the room and head downstairs.

----

Katrina is awoken by the click of the door as it closes. She sits up in the bed and pivots off the bed, her feet touch the floor, it is as cold as ice, she rubs her eyes as she stands and dresses herself, her brown hair now braided back into a long plait, she walks over to the sorry excuse for drapes and pulls them open. The golden light trickled through the room, the light glinting off the parts of her that are covered in armour.

She turns for the door, as she turns, she looks at the bed that had the Tiefling girl sleeping in it, who was that girl, and if what Raymonde had said about were true, can she be trusted? She doesn't linger on the thought for long as she walks down the stairs to the tavern.

As she got to the bottom of the stairs, she spots Raymonde and the girl receiving breakfast, Raymonde waves her over. As she begins walking towards their Raymonde grabs another plate and moves apportion of his food to it.

"Here has some breakfast." He says cheerfully.

"Thank you," she answers, "why are you so happy this morning?" she says while taking a bite of food.

"Can't I be happy?" he answers while stuffing half a waffle in his mouth, "Let me introduce you to someone, this is Lildöris, and Lildöris this is Katrina, we have known each other for most of our lives."

"It is nice to meet you Lildöris." She smiles at the girl.

Lildöris lets out a whimper and hides behind Raymonde, "It's nice t—to meet you t—too, Katrina."

Raymonde smiles down at Lildöris, Katrina just looks at him in awe, he would make a great father one day, he is treating this Tiefling girl as if she were his child. Katrina smiles at them.

"What are you smiling at?" Raymonde asks, "What has you so happy?"

"Just the way how you treat her as your own," Katrina replies, "you are like a father to the girl."

"There is something I need to confess,"

"Don't tell me she is your child?" Katrina cuts in.

"No, nothing of the sort, see Lildöris here is Anthem's daughter, Anthem Jay." Katrina's eyes go wide.

"So, she is the daughter of your brother?" she asks, he nods, "Shit, now that is someone we don't want to deal with. How did she come to be in the Wicked Province?"

As Katrina asked the question the tavern doors swing open and a woman with gold and red hair furiously walks in, "I'll tell you what I think later," he whispers as the woman walks towards their table and sits down, "Llorva, what brings you down here?" he asks the woman, Llorva, now where has she heard that name before.

"I came down here to talk to you but now I am more interested in who this woman you are with is," Llorva says while staring Katrina down.

"Me?" Katrina asks sounding shocked, "I am Katrina, Katrina Deathsworn. Maybe you have heard of me before?" she pulls a dagger from her belt and begins twirling it between her fingers.

"I have indeed heard of you before. You are well known throughout this Kingdom." Llorva begins sliding her sword from its sheath.

"I would advise against that, Llorva," Raymonde says while eating his food, Llorva looks at him in confusion.

"Why would you advise against it?" she asks.

"Well, that is because I have never once been able to defeat her in a one-on-one sparing match before. She is much stronger than I am."

Llorva's eyes widen as she looks back up towards Katrina, sweat starts to gleam her brow as she clears her throat and slides her sword back in its sheath.

"Alright, I will refrain from doing anything rash, considering when we first met you shattered my chest plate with your bare hand, how your hand wasn't broken in the process, I don't know," Llorva says as she takes a seat, "anyway, how long have you known each other?"

"About seventeen years." He says while looking towards Katrina, she nods in confirmation.

"Llorva, why don't you like Katrina?" Lildöris asks, "What did she do for you to not like her?"

"It doesn't matter anymore, does it Llorva? Katrina?" Raymonde says to them. Katrina puts her dagger away and returns to eating her breakfast, "Right, now what did you want to talk to me about?" he looks towards Llorva.

"Right," Llorva begins, "we need to head to Xam."

Katrina begins choking on her food as she looks at Llorva and said, "He doesn't need to go anywhere with you," blue light flashes in her eyes, "you two have just met, and you are trying to take him to the city of light, the most romantic place in the Provence. I don't think so."

"Why?" Llorva lashes back, "What is he to you, it is not like you married."

Raymonde spits up his drink and begins coughing, "Now look at what you have done," Katrina begins, "and yes we are married, we got married ten years ago. Before he even left to be in this country." Raymonde lowers his head, his face becoming flushed.

"Uh, so Llorva why can't you just go yourself?" Raymonde asks, "Why do I need to go with you." He raises his head.

"Because I need your expertise to help me get there." She grabs onto his hand; Katrina snorts and looks away.

"Alright," he says while removing his hand from hers and placing it on top of Lildöris' head, she smiles and continues to eat her food, "but I will only come under one condition."

"Which is?" Llorva answers, as she glances upwards, she sees him holding Katrina's hand and Lildöris by the shoulder.

"They are coming with," he says, Katrina's face reddens, "We made a promise ten years ago that if we were to cross one another's path, we would stick together until the end, and Lildöris is my niece, they come, or we don't have a deal."

"Wait, since when was Lildöris your niece?" Llorva asks, her eyes wide in shock.

"I know it was quite the surprise for me too, if I recall correctly once I found out, I had combusted into flames, and you had to drag a carriage along with me passed out in the back of it." He speaks.

"So that is why that had happened," Llorva says, "it makes sense now."

"Wait," Katrina says, "you had combusted into flames? Why did you not tell me?"

"Because it wasn't important, and Llorva do we have a deal?"

"Yes," Llorva says, "we have a deal, they can come along. We leave inside the week." She says while standing from the table and begins to stroll towards the door, "Within the week." She says behind her.

Raymonde and Katrina nod, as Lildöris says, "Okay, will see you soon." The three of them set aside the time to finish their breakfast. They leave the tavern and head into the Kingdom of Kram.

----

As Llorva left the tavern she pauses at the door and takes a few breaths, why does Katrina need to come with, let alone Lildöris, she shakes the thought from her head and begins walking towards the palace.

After ten minutes of walking towards the palace, she arrives at the road that leads to the doorstep of the palace. As she approaches, she can see someone waiting at the gate, as she gets closer to this four-foot-tall Dwarven male his posture tenses.

He stands there with his arms crossed over his broad chest and his earthy brown braided beard, "Llorva," the Dwarven male begins, "it is good to see you again."

"It is good to see you too, Melnir." She answers giving him a lasting hug.

She has known Melnir her whole life, he has been one of the lords of Kram before her father was appointed head of the Skypeak family, her grandfather was fortunate enough to know him when he was born.

Melnir releases Llorva from his grip, he waves his hand through the air, most likely to signal for the gate to be opened, as the gate rises is screeches as if it had been rusted through.

They enter a courtyard that is bigger than the Dirty Mind, foliage covers every inch of the grass, flowers line the footpath. The flowers that her father had planted for her when she was a child, they enter the palace through a door on the other side of the courtyard.

They enter the building to only be faced with Lord Skypeak, Llorva's father. They kneel, "Rise," demands her father, "There is no need to greet me like this. Melnir, we have known each other my entire life, and Llorva sweetheart, you should know better."

"You are right Atlas, we have known each other for your entire life," Melnir states as he rises to his feet.

"Yes, father I know, yet you are still a Lord of Kram, and I am part of the royal guard, so I will greet you according to the law of the Kingdom." She says coldheartedly.

"Fine, but Melnir please greet me as I wish." Atlas continues.

"Will do Atlas. I'll take my leave now, enjoy the rest of your day." Melnir answers and takes his leave.

Atlas motions for Llorva to rise and follow him. She ascends to her feet and begins to follow a short distance behind him.

"So," Atlas begins, "did he come willingly?" he stops and turns towards Llorva, he raises a brow.

"Actually," she begins scratching the back of her head and running her fingers through her hair, "he had no other option but to come along with me."

"Really? For what reasoning?" Atlas asks, raising his other brow.

"The town I had found him in was reduced to ashes, not an hour after I had located him." She answers feeling a small amount of guilt after revealing sensitive information.

"So, they are searching for him," Atlas mutters.

"Who is searching for him?" Llorva shouts severing her father's line of reasoning.

"What? Nothing, nobody." Before Llorva could think of a reply, her father begins walking in the other direction in which they were travelling.

"Strange," Llorva says to herself, "really strange." She continues walking down the hall for a few moments and in those moments, she can't help thinking about who is searching for Raymonde, what type of people would eradicate a small country village to find him? She stops thinking about it when she enters her room.

----

"Where are we going, Raymonde?" Katrina asks while following behind him, Lildöris' hand in hers. After reaching him she folds her free arm around his.

"We are headed into town." Raymonde answers while tightening his grip on her arm.

Time felt like it was irrelevant when Katrina was with him, when he spoke, she would get lost in his words when he looked at her his eyes, one of which is a dull charcoal grey, did he lose vision in that eye in the battle he was in, however, the case, his other emerald eye still fills her with joy. Like the first day they had met, and she saw those eyes.

Not long after they had set off into the markets of the Kingdom, Katrina runs into the back of Raymonde as he stops dead, "Why did you have to stop suddenly?" she asks him, he doesn't answer, "Raymonde?"

She walks in front of him to see his gaze is fixated on something, she looks in the direction in which he is and sees that he isn't looking at something, he is looking at someone. Someone they both haven't seen in fifteen years and was presumed dead.

"Raymonde?" she says again, tightening her grip on his arm.

Raymonde continues to stare blankly as he says, "It—it is my father." He watches as his father strolls between various store vendors.

"Is it bad?" Katrina asks, she rises onto her toes to look him in the eyes.

"I—I don't know?" he answers as he turns and begins walking in the direction of the tavern.

As Raymonde turned Katrina caught a glimpse of his eyes.

They were empty. All the light that had dwelled in them earlier had dissipated and vanished.

"Katrina?" Lildöris begins, "Who was that man?"

"That man in Raymonde's dad, your grandfather. We were to believe that he was dead, fifteen years ago." Katrina kneels beside Lildöris, and looks into her eyes, "He is a bad man, don't ever trust him."

She nods. Katrina stands again and grabs her hand.

They begin to walk after Raymonde.

----

Early the following morning Llorva strolls through the halls of the palace, looking for her father. She walks the halls alone before she reaches the large wooden door to his chambers.

She reaches for the handle and attempts to open it, the door stops before it could move, must be locked then, she knocks on the door. No answer. She knocks again and puts more force behind it, still no answer.

Without a second to think it through she kicks the door in to find her father seated in a chair on the other side of the room, sleeping. She walks over and wakes him.

"What do you want?" Atlas says as he comes to consciousness.

"Time to get up father," Llorva replies, a smile tugs on her lip.

"But—"

"No buts. It is ten in the morning." Llorva cuts him off, "Father. Will you by chance be able to get a boat at the docks within three days?"

"A boat?" he replies, "Why do you need a boat of all things?"

"I am headed to find Lorxan, with him." Llorva conveys silently.

"Are you sure that is the best course of action? Considering people are willing to burn entire towns to the ground to find him?" he approaches her, sounding worried for his daughter's life.

"That is the reason I will be there," Llorva replies, Atlas opens his mouth to reply but Llorva says, "will you be able to get the boat or not?"

"Yes, I can get the boat, it will be there tomorrow, if need be, however, I can have it there in three days." He answers while staying at eye level with her.

"Great." She answers.

She turns and walks out of his chambers, halting the broken door on the way out, she waves goodbye and rushes down the halls.

----

Early in the morning, the slight shimmer of light leaks through the window of their room, Raymonde wakes to feel a weight on his lap, he looks down to see Lildöris sleeping. He looks up to see Katrina lying in bed where she had laid last night.

He scoops Lildöris in his arms and places her next to Katrina. Lildöris shifts as she gets comfortable on the bed, Raymonde pats her head, walks towards the door, and leaves the room.

----

Katrina wakes to the sound of the door clicking shut, she sits up and shifts to the side of the bed, she places her arms behind her in support to keep her seat.

She feels a touch on her hand, she turns to see Lildöris holding on to her hand.

"Come Lildöris, let's go get some breakfast."

She looks up at Katrina with starry eyes, she nods and smiles. The smile brightens Katrina's morning mood.

Katrina stands from the bed, holds on to Lildöris' hand and walks out of the room. They head downstairs.

As they reach the bottom of the stairs Lildöris realises Katrina's hand a run towards Raymonde, who is receiving his breakfast. An enormous plate of waffles. Katrina walks over, sits down, and takes one of the waffles.

"Hey, get your own food," Raymonde says while pulling his plate closer to him.

"You weren't planning on eating all of those? Were you?" she asks, her eyes widening as Raymonde essentially unhinges his jaw and shoves a whole waffle in his mouth.

"Well, I guess not anymore." He answers.

"Raymonde?" Lildöris says her voice as sweet as sugar, he looks over to see her sitting beside him, "Can I have some waffles please?"

Raymonde grabs another plate from the table and places a couple of his waffles on it and slides the plate over towards Lildöris, "Here, you can have as much as you like." He places his hand on her head as she begins eating. Katrina looks at him in disgust, "What? She asked for some food, and I provided."

"And when I asked for some food, you said no."

"You didn't ask, you just took. Sounds like a certain day we had a while back." Raymonde winks at Katrina.

Katrina's face reddens as she begins looking at the table and a blue aura begins to surround her. She stands next to Raymonde and places a hand on the back of his head.

"What do you want now?" Raymonde looks at Katrina and begins to sweat, Katrina opens her eyes, they are glowing bright blue, she pushes Raymonde's head through the table.

The table shatters under the impact. The tavern goes silent. The eyes of everyone who was fixated on them now dart to the door as Llorva strolls in and walks towards their table and sits.

"Isn't too early to be drinking?" Raymonde asks as he sits back up, holding his head.

"It is never too early to start in my line of work." She says as she downs the drink.

"So," Katrina begins, "what do you do?" she says while her hands glow a midnight blue as the table begins mending itself.

"I am part of the Royal Guard, and one of the lords' daughters." She says with her hand hovering over her heart, "And what happened here?" She looks first at Raymonde, then towards Katrina.

"Katrina shoved Raymonde's head through the table." Lildöris answers, "I think it was because Ray gave some food to me."

The three of them look at her, Raymonde said after a few moments of silence, "Ray? Where did that come from?"

"Well… since you call me Lil, I thought I could call you Ray. Or do you want me to call you dad instead?" Lildöris looks up from her plate of waffles.

"No. No Ray is alright with me sweetheart." Raymonde kneels beside her and places his forehead on hers, he whispers "As I said a couple of days ago, you are now my child, and I will protect you no matter what." He kisses her forehead and stands, he looks towards Llorva, "So when is that boat getting here?"

"It will be here in the next day or so, and how did you know we were going to take a boat?" Llorva answers, her hand now resting on her sword.

"Woah," Raymonde begins, hands raised slightly, "you know exactly what happened last time we crossed swords," Llorva's hand lowers, "that is what I thought, and I didn't know you had just confirmed my suspicions." Lildöris clutches his hand, a smile tugs at the corner of his mouth as he looks down at her.

"Raymonde?" Katrina says, he looks up at her, "Are you smiling?"

He quickly averts his gaze and covers his face with his free hand, "No, why would I have a reason to smile?"

Katrina just looks him up and down and smiles.

"Not to break topic or anything," Llorva cuts in, "but if you three aren't down at the docks by the time the boat is right to leave. We will be leaving without you." She stands from the table, glares at them both, smiles at Lildöris and leaves the tavern.

----

As the sky begins to turn orange in the late afternoon sun, Raymonde, Katrina and Lildöris are wandering through the markets of Kram. They look through a wide range of items, testing a few wares as they pass. Raymonde came close to losing a finger while holding a hand-held bomb.

How long has he had that scar across his eye, Katrina begins thinking, I don't mind how long he has had the scar, it makes him more handsome than he already was.

Raymonde catches a glimmer of light from the side, he looks to see what it was; however, he looks over to see Katrina staring at him, "Lildöris watch this." He says as he comes to a stop, Lildöris looks up at Katrina, "Is your name Katrina," Raymonde asks.

"Yes," Katrina answers.

Raymonde slightly nods, "Now, what is the Kingdom we are in called?" Raymonde glances down at Lildöris, "Watch."

"Yes." Katrina repeats.

"Yes?" Raymonde says, Lildöris begins to laugh, Raymonde soon joins, "I don't think so."

"Yes," she repeats.

"Katrina." Raymonde says while shaking her arm, "Katrina snaps out of it." Lildöris is beside herself, she can't stop laughing.

"Yes, what?" Katrina says as she shakes her head and blinks a few times, her face begins to burn with embarrassment, "Why is Lildöris laughing," she looks up, "And you too? I can't believe it."

"What you are the one who blanked out on me again," Raymonde answers, wiping the tears from his eyes, "I can't believe you are still having blackouts."

"Hey, Raymonde," Katrina says pointing behind him towards the gem dealer where they saw his father the day earlier.

"Yeah? What about it?" he answers with bitterness in his tone.

"Hey, what's the matter, did I say something wrong?" Katrina asks.

"No," he answers, "nothing of the sort. It is just the last time I saw him was fifteen years ago at that dinner party he had with the lords of different households within Nenalin, and this very Kingdoms lord was there as well," his hands begin to shake, a warm feeling begins to fill his hand, he looks down to see yellow light shining from Lildöris' hand, he smiles, "And to top it all off, sweet little brother Ace, had the audacity to remove us and your family from the Kingdom and to never return." He swore low and viciously.

"I am sorry, I truly am," Katrina begins, her voice low and sweet, "I was there, I know most of what happened, it was a hard time for both of us. When we had first landed in Kaiya, we weren't very frowned upon. Then you left for this Kingdom to join the army. And at that point, you disappeared, and no one knew of your whereabouts until… what's her name…"

"Llorva?" Raymonde cuts in as he sits on a box on the side of the road, Lildöris and Katrina also sit beside him.

"Yeah, Llorva, you wouldn't be here if it weren't for her." Silver begins to line her eyes.

"You don't know the half of it." He says, holding the back of his head.

"What do you mean by that?" Katrina snaps her gaze toward him.

"If she hadn't approached me when she did, I might as well have walked right into a death trap. If she didn't talk to me when she did, I might not be here talking to you right now. Lildöris might not even be alive. I might not have been able to be reunited with you if she didn't show up when she did."

Raymonde had left her speechless. Before the words had time to sink in, he stood from the crate and began walking towards the tavern.

She could have sworn she saw him crying.

----

Late in the night, the moon set behind the horizon causing the night to be darker. Raymonde sits alone in the Dirty Mind Inn drinking his troubles away.

He completes his fifth ale and leaves five gold on the counter, he severely overpaid, but he couldn't care less, what had him worried was the fact that his father, the former King of Nenalin, was still breathing after fifteen years of being presumed dead.

How long had he been here in the ten years he was part of the royal army; he shocks the thought from his head as he enters his room.

He closes the door and turns to see Katrina and Lildöris sleeping in one of the beds, Lildöris in Katrina's arms. Katrina is still in her clothes, she hadn't bother taking them off he supposes, he walks over to the bed and throws the blanket over the top of them, he kisses Katrina on the forehead, she shifts as he does so and now a smile broadens across her face.

"Goodnight. Girls."